lu Aug., 1916.] 



Apple ('ill lure in Victoria. 



477 



Plate 1 shows the work of ploughing and subsoiling in progress. 

 An ordinary single-furrow plough is used, and the sod may be from 

 8 to 10 inches, according to the depth of the surface soil. The sub- 

 soiler follows in the same furrow, breaking up the subsoil to a depth 

 of from 8 to 10 inches, according to requirements. Care should be taken 

 not to bring the subsoil to the surface during this operation. 



Plate 2 gives a full view of the subsoiler, showing its construction 

 and the arrangements for regulating the depth at which it may be 

 worked, &c. In charge of a competent operator, this implement has 

 proved highly satisfactory. 



When ploughing and subsoiling operations are completed by Sep- 

 tember, the land should be allowed to remain in the rough until 

 November, when it should be thoroughly worked with a disc cultivator. 

 Plate 3 shows the class of implement used for this kind of work at the 

 Leongatha Labour Colony. After discing the land it should be cross- 

 ploughed and allowed to fallow during the summer. 



As soon as weather conditions become favorable in the. autumn, the 

 orchard area should be again worked with the cultivator, or harrowed, 

 to prepare it for grading, prior to being brought into a fit state of tilth 

 to receive the young trees. 



"** - ■-.'v--^ — -— - zr 



Plate 6. — Buck-scraper. 



Grading the Orchard Land. 



When an orchard is being established in a northern irrigation {Jistrict 

 where, as a rule, the land has naturally a fairly even surface, the difl5- 

 culties met with in grading and making it suitable for irrigation from 

 channels are not so great as those which obtain in the soutliern and 

 mostly undulating districts, where irrigation from dams is practised. 



When serious inequalities in the orchard surface occur, and slightly 

 elevated portions have to be carried away to fill up depressions, the scoop- 

 shaped buck-scraper shown in Plate 4 has been found eminently suitable 

 for the purpose. 



Where depressions exist, and there are not sufficient elevations to 

 fill them up, tlie surface soil could be removed from the headlands, or 

 from situations where dams are to be constructed and used, for this 

 purpose with advantage. 



Where slight unevenness exists it may be fined down by the 

 " Slicker," shown in Plate 5. This slicker has l>een usod with satisfaction 

 on the Central Researcli Farm, Werribee, where it is regarded as one of 

 tlie most useful implements in grading the land and producing a fine 



